![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On Saturday, we dined in HELL!!
May. 1st, 2007 02:11 pmOver the weekend, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
film2edit and lockemaison came up to visit. On Saturday, we did a day trip to Centralia, PA. For those not familiar with the name, it is the town that has been on fire for many years. Or rather, its coal mines have been on fire.
See, in this part of Pennsylvania, the veins of coal run vertical, and some reach the surface. Sometimes they are at the bottom of sinkholes. Some of these sinkholes were used as convenient ways to dispose of trash. One of these sinkholes caught on fire in the 1960s and subsequently ignited the vein of coal underneath. The resulting fire has proven to be impossible to put out -- the mine is too well drained to use water, and the fire burned too fast for engineers to cut it off by removing part of the coal vein.
So, the town was evacuated, and most of its structures were knocked down and removed. The only remaining structures are a few houses of people who refuse to leave. The town's population is currently about 20. Also, the Postal Service revoked the town's Zip Code, so there's no longer mail delivery anymore.
Just outside of town:
Real estate is really cheap:
This is the extent of the tourist facilities available:
The center of town:
About the dining in hell part? We brought some food and ate it when we were in town. :-)
We also walked on the abandoned section of Route 61. It was closed and built around as the roadway kept buckling and cracking. The steam pouring out didn't help either. :-)
I'm having trouble making out the words on this sign. I think it says "Please Explore":
A wee bit of steam was coming up from the road. What's even more amazing is that PennDOT had nothing to do with it!
Others appear to have preceded us:
We also visited the Pioneer Tunnel, a mine that is open for tourism purposes. That, and the rest of my pictures can be found in my collection on Flickr. Enjoy!
film2edit and lockemaison came up to visit. On Saturday, we did a day trip to Centralia, PA. For those not familiar with the name, it is the town that has been on fire for many years. Or rather, its coal mines have been on fire.See, in this part of Pennsylvania, the veins of coal run vertical, and some reach the surface. Sometimes they are at the bottom of sinkholes. Some of these sinkholes were used as convenient ways to dispose of trash. One of these sinkholes caught on fire in the 1960s and subsequently ignited the vein of coal underneath. The resulting fire has proven to be impossible to put out -- the mine is too well drained to use water, and the fire burned too fast for engineers to cut it off by removing part of the coal vein.
So, the town was evacuated, and most of its structures were knocked down and removed. The only remaining structures are a few houses of people who refuse to leave. The town's population is currently about 20. Also, the Postal Service revoked the town's Zip Code, so there's no longer mail delivery anymore.
Just outside of town:
Real estate is really cheap:
This is the extent of the tourist facilities available:
The center of town:
About the dining in hell part? We brought some food and ate it when we were in town. :-)
We also walked on the abandoned section of Route 61. It was closed and built around as the roadway kept buckling and cracking. The steam pouring out didn't help either. :-)
I'm having trouble making out the words on this sign. I think it says "Please Explore":
A wee bit of steam was coming up from the road. What's even more amazing is that PennDOT had nothing to do with it!
Others appear to have preceded us:
We also visited the Pioneer Tunnel, a mine that is open for tourism purposes. That, and the rest of my pictures can be found in my collection on Flickr. Enjoy!
